Wild Charon
by WG-Writer
Summary: Ranma never had a chance to encounter his mom before, however, a chance to change that alters destiny. Will his life ever be normal again?
1. Chapter 1

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only characters that I make are owned by me.

* * *

Chapter 1 - That makes sense… Wait!

* * *

Ukyo stretched as she stood outside her closed restaurant, she smiled happily at the bright sunny day. She had earned enough recently that she could take a vacation and that was something she fully intended on doing. Packing was done so she decided to take a walk; after all it would be a few weeks until she returned.

Briefly entering her establishment again before exiting with a bento in hand she headed for Nerima Prefecture Park. Ukyo wished she could bring Ranma with her for a picnic but he had been moody after the fight with Herb. Inwardly she frowned as she only found out through gossip as to why he was out of class at the time, but she then smiled and knew that anything which would cause tension between her rivals and him helped her chances.

It was because of this that she was glad she missed the affair; self delusion was the bane of martial arts. She knew her knee jerk reaction to him being locked would have only hurt her chances. She was by no means Nabiki, someone who manipulated people to get what she wanted. Ukyo wished for Ranma to want her, any victory otherwise was hollow.

After a short search she found a quiet spot in the park and under the shade of a large Sakura tree she started into her bento thinking back to the talk she and Akane had about her the visit to her mother's grave. In some ways she was jealous. Akane had actually met her mother which was something neither she nor Ranma had done. But she knew losing someone so close was hard.

After she finished her Bento she looked at the time and sighed, deciding it was time to get back. She had a train to catch and it was better to be early than late. She had to smile, though; at least she knew Shampoo would be unable to pester Ranma while she was away. The bimbo was quite clear, despite her speech patterns, that she would be in China for the next month due to her laws.

Her trip back home was only briefly marred by thoughts of Kodachi. The nut case had been missing for the past month and there was not enough luck on the planet, in her opinion that she would give up her claim.

* * *

Meanwhile in Juuban a Senshi meeting was taking place in the Outer's home. Since there was no new enemy it was part of their regular get together to chat and update each other on what was happening in each other's lives. Most of what some termed as the Inner Senshi were just enjoying their final year of high school, and still, unfortunately, suffering under the legendary, to them, 'Sailor Senshi may not have a boyfriend, unless he is an enemy or about to be killed,' curse.

It was only by luck that Mamoru survived to date, actually. There had been at least five major events since Galaxia where the universe seemed to be doing its best, and still failing, to kill him off. Hello Kitty still gave him nightmares from the second attempt.

Minako had seven boyfriends in the last five months who turned out to be Youma in disguise. She wasn't sure what pissed her off more, that they were leftovers from Beryl or that there were the only seven Youma. She guessed that since they were male Beryl kept them for other purposes.

Usagi was tending to Mamoru's most recent bruise; he had been hit by a car, of all things. The worst of it was that he was on the roof of a five story building just inside Nerima at the time.

Makoto was having a rather animated discussion with Minako over her 'book.' Most girls would blush horribly if they found out their names and personal information were in a boy's little black book. Such a discovery was then usually followed up by a cry of "Pervert". These two were comparing their own books.

The Guardian of Time was sipping her tea and casually observing everything that went on around her. There was, after all, little need for her to do anything at the moment. There were no major threats coming, and nothing seemed to warrant her involvement. She listened in to the goings on around her when she heard Minako and Makoto talking about a cute guy Makoto had been apparently stalking, and at first she shrugged off what she heard with little interest.

Minako looked on in awe of the beef cake shot that Makoto had of the boy, "Oh, what a hunk. Is he single?"

Makoto sighed and shook her head, "Sadly, no. From what rumors tell, his father," taking a moment to check her notes, "Genma Saotome engaged him to several girls." Neither noticed Setsuna suddenly grinding her teeth.

The two continued their discussions the few known facts, such as why he was afraid of cats, all the while Setsuna was getting more and more irate.

Hotaru asked her, "Setsuna-mama, are you alright." Unfortunately her 'time guardian' mother was unable to answer from the concentration required not to snap.

By this point Rei was unable to help over hearing, "Sounds like a jerk of a father, what kind of mother would let the father do that." No response was forth coming but Hotaru noticed a tear roll down her Mother's eye.

Minako had to ask, "What did you say his name was?"

Setsuna had resorted to the mantra of, 'It's not Ranma!' repeatedly.

"Ranma." Came the response from the Senshi of Jupiter, but before Minako could make a bad pun of the name there was a loud crack and everyone turned their heads to the time guardian.

Setsuna crushed the handle of the teacup that she was holding and said simply, "I'll kill him." With that she jumped backwards and transformed mid leap. Before touching down, she disappeared through a portal to the time gates.

When she vanished the Senshi panicked. It was totally out of character for their friend, the mistress of the gates of time, to act so emotionally and voice so much hate. Even Galaxia and the betrayal of Uranus and Neptune had no such effect. But now she had just scared them silly with that stunt. Then again what happened with Galaxia was a strategic move that simply failed, so although she found it annoying she shrugged it off.

Usagi began channeling her Serenity persona while she made a quick decision, "Makoto, where did you say he lived?"

No one blinked. She was manifesting that persona a lot lately, so Makoto was quick to respond her commanding voice, "In Nerima."

"Let's go." She transformed and waited for the others to do so, as well. Then when everyone was ready they teleported without another word.

* * *

Ranma and Akane walked home in a comfortable silence. Akane was happy with the world. What Ranma didn't know was the reason she stopped being so violent recently was because she had finally sorted out her feelings for Ranma.

She loved the idiot, she could admit that, but it wasn't the way her father hoped. She loved him like she loved Nabiki, or Kasumi. More of a brother-sister love than a married couple love. She then saw Ranma get splashed and growl about it, and thought to herself, 'make that sometimes sister-sister love.' She giggled at that.

Ranma looked at Akane and tried to sound hurt, by now she was used to this kind of annoyance. Everyone around the area knew about the curse, except the Kuno siblings. Like his father, though, he did enjoy making others feel bad about their laughter by feigning being hurt worse than he was, "Oh poor me, my Fiancée giggles at my distress." If only he were a better liar it wouldn't have sounded so melodramatic, and wouldn't have made Akane giggle more.

Akane finally stopped giggling and continued her trek home with Ranma. She wanted to tell Ranma how she felt, but was worried; what if she was wrong, what if it was true love and not the love of a sibling. She feared that if it was indeed more romantic type of love that she would push him away. Then she would be worse off. She would have gone from being unsure to being sure but too late.

Then there was family honor to be considered, her father and Ranma's father both insisted that they marry and she wasn't sure she wanted that. Unfortunately it was family honor that called for it so she had no choice.

Choice is what it boiled down to, she had no choice but to marry Ranma, her sisters made that clear, even the fathers put that responsibility on her. Nabiki proved that she wasn't better for Ranma and made his life hell during that time she was engaged to him. Kasumi, well, nobody crossed Kasumi, ever. It just wasn't done; she shivered at the thought of the last person who did. Kasumi was nice enough most of the time, but if you angered her she would make your life hell, and she would carry an air of innocence doing it.

Then there was her friend and rival Ukyo, as much as she wanted to just tell Ranma to go and marry Ukyo, she couldn't do that either. Ranma would be hurt, she would damage her own honor, her family's honor, and possibly Ranma's, if he was of a mind to actually do it. Sure Ukyo would be happy, but what about herself.

Ranma was fence walking next to her now as they passed by the canal and Akane was annoyed at her. She mused it was more a matter of her father not doing his job in teaching her anything beyond enough to teach beginner classes, after all 'she was a girl, and Ranma was the guy'. Her father was so old fashioned that he couldn't even see when he was hurting her.

On a moment's impulse, she kicked the fence and knocked Ranma into the canal, too bad she forgot she was up there.

"What did you that for ya uncute Tomboy?" Came the indignant, mezzo soprano response as Ranma-chan got back on top of the fence.

Akane blushed and replied, "Sorry Ranma, I forgot you were there."

Ranma countered, "With your Gorilla like strength you have to be more careful."

Akane yelled as the boy turned girl took off running, "Ranma! Get back here you jerk!" Sure, she mused, Ranma was a jerk, but that jerk was her friend too.

* * *

Pluto stood before the time gates, coaxing them to show her what she wanted to know. It was a hard thing to do, the time gates were not meant to do it. What it truthfully was, was a fixed point time space worm hole. It was like picking a point in spacetime and looking out; ironically it was intended as a safety mechanism to ensure you did not arrive in solid rock. And the tracking mechanism was intended for planetary trends, not individuals that moved around.

Another design aspect of the gates did not allow it to easily show, or lock on to, three types of people; chaos generators, members of the Plutonian royal family, and members of the Lunar royal family. The latter two were intentional during construction, mostly out of concern for the next generation, that the gates not be used for over parenting. The targeting software function would cause the gate to "look away" when looking directly at them.

Most chaos generators were just people who were low on morals, and easily corrupted. This was not usually a bad thing, as it led to enormous amusement at times and annoyance at other times. Genma useless, fat tub of lard Saotome was a large chaos generator, and not because of his 'big bones.'

She peered through looking for Genma, and Ranma. She owed the tub of lard a Dead Scream up his useless, lying ass. To track the two of them, she had given them special watches. Since neither could be tracked by the gates, and she had a great need to track them, she put a 'here I am' enchantment on the watches so she could find them, but Genma pawned them off when she wasn't looking.

She decided to try a different approach this time, she remembered a friend named Tendo with a dojo and went looking it. Quickly enough she had found it then found one Akane Tendo. She realized this was likely a fiancee and followed Akane home with the gates and Ranma by proxy. She saw them walking like friends, but they didn't seem that close. She did overhear them talking about their engagement, and it reminded her about the pledge Genma left for her when they left.

When they left…

That stung her in ways she couldn't count. It was due to some foreigner trying to create a time machine; he created a paradox that made the gates unstable for months. Because of that she was unable to even follow them from the point they left the house. She couldn't even look back to that point now. She could travel there, but then that type of thing was akin to jumping off a train blindfolded, as the aiming function didn't work at all, she would have been fatally hurt, more likely than not.

But now that she had him targeted she could roll back the time the gates were showing her. She had to be sneaky about it by not viewing him directly but she succeeded and when she saw his life first hand, to put it mildly, she was pissed.

* * *

Pluto teleported onto the wall surrounding the Tendo compound, unseen by the inhabitants whose attention was taken by the usual fight at the table. She smirked evilly. She knew how all the characters in this little drama would act, having seen it play out several times in her viewing of the past. Genma knew about her job, there was no denying it to him, and Ranma would know soon enough. However if she wanted to keep her identity secret she couldn't do it in uniform. So smiling she cast an illusion to make it look like she was a more generic magical girl.

She took a deep breath and screamed, "Saotome, prepare to die!!!" Then fired an 'unannounced' Dead Scream at Genma.

Genma smiled for a moment, it sounded like another lost fiancée had found his son, at least he hoped that was why he recognized that voice.

Ranma had jumped up into a ready stance, not his usual, 'not a stance' stance, but his 'you interrupted my eating so I will kick your ass fast' stance. He just registered the fact the energy blast was directed at his father and he came to a decision, 'Screw this, she is after pops, not me. I'm not cleaning up another mess if I can help it.'

After the attack hit, Ranma sat down, which he was about to do anyway, though not quite as hard as he did after hearing her yell, "For what you did to our son, prepare to suffer eternally…"

Genma, after he recovered sufficiently, realized who had blasted him, got into a ready stance then immediately went into the 'Crouch of the White Tiger'. And everyone was shocked beyond words.

Then Genma started pleading, "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I thought I was just doing what was best for the boy."

Nabiki is the first to recover and stated, "Figures, she fits right in with the family."

Pluto approached the pair stopping in front of them. She looked at Genma with an intense glare that made him back off by several feet. Pluto then looked at Ranma softly and crouched to cupped her hand to his cheek and said, "I will explain later son. First I need to…talk, to your…other parent."

Pluto stood and walked over to where Genma was now kneeling and glared at him again. "Genma, once I found you, I used my magic and saw everything." She paused for a moment before continuing. "I thought long and hard about what I was going to do to you." Actually this was a lie; she was making it up as she went along. She smirked, Nabiki recognized it as Ranma's trademark, 'I am so going to kick your ass' smirk.

Pluto then spoke in an evilly charming voice, "I decided to do this in chronological order." She pulled out a piece of paper Genma recognized. She saw the recognition in his eyes and dropped the smirk, "Well, I see that you recognize the seppuku pledge you made promising that you would return with Ranma as a man among men."

This made everyone, even Kasumi, glare at Genma, although she hid it behind a cup of tea. Pluto's smirk returned as she dismissed the time staff and rolled up the pledge, "I am going to return this piece of crap from where it came from, and I am not talking orally."

* * *

Ranma chased his mother through Nerima. They were fast approaching the border to the next ward. It was all he could do to keep up, he would never mention it to another living soul, but, given his mother's abilities, he doubted that, if he had to inherit her powers, that his whining would be too much more than he was required to maintain his self image.

As the trio ran, half roof hopping, half ground running, they passed the Senshi in their civilian forms. However, Pluto was so focused on beating her husband that she didn't notice them, but they did see him transform into a Panda when splashed.

Ranma was close behind her, and she could hear him yelling for her to not kill his father. She knew she wouldn't, he wasn't worth it, she, however, mused, 'Although I won't kill him, I will Punish him, and damn it, I only got past Ukyo when he bolted, I still have the neko-ken and another 8 years of his stupidity to punish him for.'

* * *

Usagi was just coming out of an ice cream parlor with the inners and Mamoru. Usagi had a large ice cream cone, and Mamoru was upset that he ended up covering everyone. Rei turned from her ice cream cone to the odangoed blonde, and said, "Great ice cream shop meatball head, but we still need to find Pluto. So where is she?"

Usagi answered without looking at Rei or her ice cream, "Um, she's right there." Everyone looked where she was looking and, sure enough, saw Pluto. Under her disguise but they recognized her anyway, it wasn't that good an illusion.

She was chasing a fat guy in a faded martial arts outfit, and was firing Dead Screams at him randomly. They seemed low power, but the guy didn't seem weak enough to be taken down by one. But that was when they saw a boy their age chasing her, he was yelling to his mother for her to not kill his father. Then it clicked, but before they could say anything they saw the man get splashed with water from a fire hydrant broken by a Dead Scream. They were shocked when the man turned into a panda and kept going, then Pluto passed through the stream unaffected, followed by the boy who turned into a girl, who adjusted her clothes and continued the chase.

A local girl saw the shock on the apparent 'out of towners' and asked, "You aren't from around here are you?" With the dead looks she shrugged and walked off.

Usagi sniffed her ice cream and asked the others, "Did you all just see Pluto chasing a man, followed by a boy calling her his mother and begging her to not kill his father. Then the boy turned into a girl and the father into a panda?"

The others could only nod; after a moment Usagi recovered fully and ate her ice cream as fast as she could. She would have recovered faster and finished her rocky road quicker, but she was waiting for Rei to transform her clothing into something frilly and pink since that was more likely in her book.

* * *

Ranma was sitting in the shrine and was more than a little uncomfortable with the number of females around him. He just knew that one was a fiancée, he was too unlucky for him to not be engaged to one of them. Then there were the two cats, he was too shocked by his mother to go running screaming, yet. Besides, there were just two and they kept their distance. He could handle that.

Everyone was still getting settled, so before introductions got underway he wanted to ask a question that was bothering him since this mess started, "So…Mom…why pop?"

Although the question was asked disjointedly, Setsuna knew what he wanted to know. She only hoped that he would take it well, otherwise she might lose him again. She had prepared for this and decided to tell as much as she could, "It all started around seventeen years ago during a minor temporal event. It was nothing major; it just prevented temporal translocations for a brief period of 'time'. The problem was that it left me slightly weakened, nothing that would be easily noticeable, but just enough for it to happen."

As she was talking she noticed that she had everyone's attention. She continued, "Since it was my first vacation in several hundred years, I decided to go get drunk. The place I chose was known for weird people and martial artists who frequented, so I did not feel totally out of place."

Artemis was getting bored at this point and interrupted, "So you got drunk and slept with his father when you couldn't think straight?"

Setsuna smacked her face with her hand, just as Luna smacked Artemis for his bluntness.

Ranma blinked for a moment and asked, "So I am the result of too much sake?"

Setsuna nodded but before she could say anything else Ranma interrupted, "Thank the Kami, I was worried that he won you over with his personality. You had me worried a moment."

Everyone could only stare, then thinking about what they knew of his father they agreed, it was better to be the result of their mother getting plastered, rather than having their mother fall in love with Genma.

Setsuna hugged Ranma with teary eyes and almost fainted when Ranma asked the next question, "What about this seppuku pledge that you mentioned though?"

His mother released the hug and looked at him and answered, "Just one of your father's ideas," she snorted, "don't worry about it."

After a few more mother and son moments Setsuna decided it was time to introduce the sailor senshi, "Girls why don't you introduce yourselves?"

Usagi was first, "Hi my name is Usagi, this is my boyfriend Mamoru," she said clinging to said boyfriend's arm, "I'm happy to meet you."

Rei arched an eyebrow, not having done a fire reading yet, she was not comfortable with this unknown, "Rei, nice to meet you."

"My name is Ami, it's good to meet you."

Makoto stepped up next, "I'm Makoto, I hope we can spar later. I hear you are very good."

Minako smiled as she spoke, "Hello, Minako is my name and if you know anyone available I'm free."

Everyone paused at that, and after several false starts he found a way to express the thought, "I am sorry but nobody I know would be available or able to survive the magical girl curse."

The senshi of Venus pointed at Mercury, "See I knew it, there is a curse."

Ranma's mother spoke up because something was being left out, "Girls, he should be told everything, after all I doubt we can hide it now."

Usagi nodded and pointed around starting with Rei, "Sailors Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus. Mamoru is Tuxedo Kamen and I am Sailor Moon."

The cursed boy looked at Mamoru and spoke up, "There has been something I have been meaning to ask you."

"Ohh"

"Why such a corny speech and throwing roses?"

Cursing under his breath, "One time, it happened one blasted time, I had a broken leg and arm, and we were fighting in a rose garden."

Ranma nodded, it was a reasonable answer to him.

Clearing her throat Setsuna interrupted, "As you heard your father mumbling my name, Setsuna, repeatedly as he begged, I should tell you I am also Sailor Pluto. And these," She gestured to Michiru and Haruka, "are Michiru and Haruka also known as Sailors Neptune and Uranus." Each nodded at their given name. "Finally," She went to speak but was interrupted.

During the introductions Hotaru was deep in thought, something tickled at the back of her mind. Given the way she was reborn again she had access to a few choice silver Millennium memories that the others didn't and a very good one came to mind. One that was of an arrangement to ensure a happy Saturn. "I'm Hotaru, also Sailor Saturn, and your fiancée." She finished with an, 'I'm so cute I could kill all life on this planet and you wouldn't stop me,' smile.

Haruka looked at her daughter and was the first to ask, "Run that by us again?"

Hotaru smiled and looked at her 'papa', "Back in the Silver Millennium my mama and Setsuna-mama made a pact with Queen Serenity to join the houses." Although it came out confident, she was uncertain on her memories, but the key was sounding confident right?

Ranma looked up after smacking his head into the table, "Sake again, mom?"

* * *

Author's Note

Time period:

Sailor Moon – After Galaxia; Inners are 18, Haruka and Michiru are 19 and Hotaru is 17

The ages are implied in fic but are being noted here to head off questions

Ranma – Alternate universe. It takes place shortly after the Herb – Mt. Horai fight but obviously as Ukyo pointed out the Nodoka arc never occurred. Ranma is 17


	2. Chapter 2

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only characters that I make are owned by me.

* * *

Chapter 2 - Up the rabbit hole… I didn't mean that!

* * *

It had been a week since Ranma moved in with his mother and shy, not to mention slightly gothic, fiancée, and he had found himself now bound tight. Flexing his various muscles he tested the bonds that held him. He found that they held tight as the claim on the box had stated. Looking between his mother who acquired them and his fiancée's large innocent eyes he knew he was doomed.

This phobia of his had caused enough problems in the past and his mother worked with the other girls to plan on a fix. In the end it was his choice but Hotaru believed this was the right path. He just wished his mother would abandon the camera and stop muttering about bondage. Briefly he wondered if he should have listened more closely to Daisuke and his perverted magazines.

Suddenly there was movement in front of him and he found himself staring into the eyes of Luna. Of course being finally settled into the house and the shock of meeting his mother worn off he was currently in full blown panic mode, but at least he wasn't going cat.

His traitorous mother was sitting on a chair nearby looking at her hogtied son and asked Luna, "Are you sure there is no other way?"

Luna turned her head and hiss out, causing Ranma to flinch, "Yes, unless you have a better idea." With silence being her answer, the Mao pressed on, "If he is going to be around the girls for any length of time in the future he will be around us. There is simply no avoiding it."

Ranma was doubtful himself, if not for his bindings he would have fled by now, sure he could break it, but the restraint was more if he lost himself. But still, "Hey I am getting better, I can sit and talk to you right."

Luna suddenly hissed and Ranma nearly jumped, it was obvious that he would have done so were he not restrained, "You just proved my point. You are probably chanting to yourself that I am not a cat right?"

Ranma hung his head, or rather let his chin rest on the couch where he was placed, he was busted and he knew it.

The moon cat continued, "Think of it this way when I am done you won't have to do it consciously."

Setsuna sighed as Ranma nodded his consent, "Ok Luna, do it."

"Luna Mind Meld!" With that cry a beam shot out of her crescent moon symbol and onto Ranma's forehead. It only lasted a couple seconds before it died away.

After a moment of silence Luna asked, "Alright Ranma, look at me and tell me what you see."

Focusing his eyes on Luna his brain tried to say cat but rolled onto something else for a reason he could not determine, "Melmacian."

Luna hissed at that startling Ranma who still associated the sound with cats, "Never say that name in my presence. They are the mortal enemies of my people."

Michiru who was just walking into the room was perplexed, "Who are they and what do they look like?"

Setsuna interrupted, "Let's just describe them as ones who eat anything edible and looking like plush animals for now."

Luna sighed, "Let's try again, Luna Mind Meld!"

After the brief flash of light Michiru asked, "Ranma, What does she look like to you now?"

Ranma looked at Luna, "A dog."

"Luna Mind Meld!"

"Weasel."

"Luna Mind Meld!"

After several more tries she had enough when Ranma finally said, "Rabbit." Luna jumped off the couch and walked over to a chair with a sleeping Usagi on it and collapsed on her lap.

* * *

Sailor Uranus was helping Ranma up after removing the restraints when a knock at the door was heard, which Michiru went to answer. She returned a few moments later with Minako who was holding Artemis.

The white moon cat decided to be the one to ask, "Did it work?"

Ranma looked at him and his mind slid of the word cat again, "Yes, although I keep thinking rabbit when I see you."

Artemis looked thoughtful when he suddenly let loose a loud Meow to which Ranma jumped and clung to the ceiling.

Minako looked down to the cat she was holding, "Artemis… That was mean."

Looking back up he replied, "No it was needed, we need to know the limits of this hypnosis."

Sailor Uranus returned as Haruka whipping off sweat, "Where did you get that crap Setsuna? It might have looked like lacey ribbons but it weighed a ton?"

Smiling Minako blushed at the reply, "I loaned it to her, it was something that survived the fall."

Ranma was about to ask about why someone would have ribbon shaped like pink hearts that no normal human could break. Especially stuff meant to tie someone up, but realized he was better off not knowing.

* * *

Ranma was uneasily sitting in the chair, well to be honest it wasn't the chair's fault. It wasn't the fact he was in his girl form or even Hotaru's fault for standing behind Ranma playing with her red hair. Ranma could even overlook the giggling girls in the room. What was bothering him was the demonic white meowing rabbit. Glaring at his tormentor he scratched behind the triangular ears at the girl's prompting. The response was a resounding purr followed by an almost contented "Meow."

Ranma hissed out, in a near feline manner, "Stop that… this is hard enough as it is."

The white cat looked back at him smirking as only a cat could, "What? Not Man enough to handle a little pussy."

Ranma growled, "I'm more then man enough for any pussy." The fact that he was a she at the moment and that his fiancée was right behind him blushing like mad was completely unnoticed only by Ranma.

The lesbians who were watching the byplay mumbled excuses and bolted before their laughing ruined the fun.

The furball on Ranma's lap decided to finish while he could, "So what do you think about his handling Hotaru?"

Suddenly Ranma turned around as she heard a crash.

Minako could only think to herself, 'That did it. She fainted.' She then looked at the white cat which was suddenly being glared at by everyone.

His only response to the glares was to ask, "What?"

While the others tried to roust the poor girl, Setsuna decided enough was enough and to explain the concept of euphemism to him. Just as she heard that Hotaru was up she had finished explaining what he said and how it could be taken. Makoto was quick with the smelling salts after hearing that crash.

* * *

Setsuna stood in her room planning her revenge on Genma for Ranma's lack of education. Focusing entirely on the arts was one thing, she could even forgive it to an extent. She was a warrior, the Sailor Suited warrior of Pluto specifically and she really wished the others took the time to train. But there were limits to what she could forgive. Now the hard part was deciding on what to do. She had to be careful, after all revenge was best served cold and spiced with irony. More so she didn't want Ranma's ire for any permanent damage.

She decided to have a drink to ease the headache that was building just from frustration and recent stress. It was then she saw it, "Perfect."

Gently she removed the bottle from the cabinet, looking at it with a critical eye she murmured to herself, "Now how to administer it without arousing suspicion."

Thinking on the problem she came upon an obvious solution, one that would use more of the contents then she liked but she could always make more. Smiling she teleported to the roof of the Tendo home while casting a silent veil over herself. Extending her senses she took notice that the only way into the Tendo kitchen was blocked off by the eldest daughter. Opting to risk being seen she teleported directly to where the rice would be stored.

Confirming that she was unnoticed she 'flavored' the rice with the contents of her bottle. Grinning in satisfaction, of her completed mission, she teleported away with none the wiser.

The truest innocent victim of the additive was Kasumi as she had to deal with both Genma and Soun wailing about an inability to get drunk.

* * *

Haruka watched from the door to the back yard as Ranma practiced his kata. She was suddenly startled when Setsuna touched her shoulder. Looking at the older woman the she was rewarded with a smirk.

Setsuna nodded towards the table where a camera sat almost as if it begged to be used, "I will have to be at the time gates for most of the day. Something seems to have come up." Upon seeing the worried look she continued, "Nothing serious, I think, but it will probably limit the effectiveness of the gate in the short term. If something comes up take some pictures for me."

Haruka nodded and with Setsuna faded back to the Time Gates. She walked toward the counter and made herself some tea and took her time enjoying the flavor. It was a Sunday and as such had no college; also no racing was scheduled for today. However Michiru was out for more violin lessons. Now with Setsuna gone this left her alone with Hotaru and Ranma.

Looking back towards the window she saw Ranma leap several feet in the air. Despite initial fears about how Hotaru and Ranma's relationship would develop, both seemed to be taking it slow and not in any hurry. Not that Ranma's presence was boring. He brought trouble like a magnet. Thinking of everything that has happened since meeting the chaotic inclined boy she could only mutter with a smirk, "Trouble is spelled 'to love you.'"

She felt a subtle tingle of magic nearby suddenly, but this didn't feel like Jusenkyo, not that Jusenkyo had a feeling to her, it took a moment to place it, but once she did she knew without a doubt it would bring trouble. Hearing Ranma scream she grabbed the camera as an afterthought and ran outside. Setsuna would not forgive her if she missed anything.

What she saw was something pink fall and land on his face, she was about to run to help him but she quickly identified the problem. She hesitated. Artemis was correct, Ranma needed to be tested and if they were to know how he would react in an uncontrolled but safe situation this was it. And it was a grey cat.

She watched as with a scream he was off on a short run screaming as he ran in a tight circle repeating, "Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" Grinning she filmed the entire thing with the camera left in her care. Being a modern one it had lots of nice features like self stabilizing and auto focusing. She also knew that Ranma's mother would be able to extract stills later.

Suddenly the cat seemed to gather enough of its wits to dislodge itself and scampered away from the dizzy martial artist. He seemed to recover once the weight was removed from his face and he looked up to see where a second scream was coming from, this time he only saw white.

Haruka watched, still filming with amusement as Chibi-Usa fell from the sky on the perfect angle that caused her skirt to catch at his chin and as such he was technically under her, but his head up her skirt. The entire perverted scene was completed by the fact that her face was now in his crotch.

Pausing for a moment she realized a problem. Chibi-Usa was half the height of Usagi, at the last time they saw her, who was the same height of Ranma's girl form. Who yet in turn was a head shorter than his male form. This meant one of three things, Dark Lady was back, which was unlikely. Or the more likely pair of options, she was just older, or she tampered with something again. Remembering her Green haired housemate's earlier comment she was guessing the tampering option.

After finishing her filming she moved to help them up. She had confirmed the fact it was Chibi-Usa, an older Chibi-Usa, one that looked as old as her mother. Abandoning that thought she quickly got both to their feet and returned to the house. She just knew this evening was going to be endless fun and she didn't want to miss a moment.

* * *

It was shortly after supper that night when they finally got everyone together as even the ever unshakable Setsuna seemed confused and uneasy by the unexpected and more mature appearance of Chibi-Usa. The rampaging thought through the room was about whom the new enemy was and if they were going to be worse than Sailor Galaxia.

The silence was nerve wracking as nobody seemed to understand what the significance of her coming back in time now meant. Ironically the only three who seemed to not feel the gravity of the situation were Hotaru, Ranma, and oddly enough Chibi-Usa.

Wanting to break the ice and get things started, and thus over with as soon as possible, Ami was the one to shatter the silence. "So Chibi-Usa," she hid a grin as it was not yet time to deal with that nick name yet, "What threat have you come to warn us of?"

"Threat?" Chibi-Usa looked genuinely confused.

Makoto picked up, "Yes, you know, the next big baddy from our time or yours or some such mess, possibly both that has come to enslave and or kill humanity that we will have to fight harder than any fight before and then only win when we get our next big power-up."

Chibi-Usa looked at her blankly, "I don't follow."

Minako paled, "Maybe they already got to her, erased her memories. She probably doesn't recognize us."

Setsuna shook her head, "My future self told me three things, specifically, and only these three things: Chibi-Usa is fine and not corrupted by any form of darkness, her age is natural, and finally her reason to be here is personal not business."

Usagi had a sinking suspicion of what the personal business and moved subtly in a way she had seen her mother do in recent months. Especially since she became 'officially' engaged to Mamoru. She had remembered what Hotaru had stated when Ranma first showed up, and now she could see something that was bothering her since.

Unfortunately, Setsuna's subtle hint and Usagi's posture change were both missed by the father to be of Chibi-Usa. Well educated, he was, had a psychic link to his fiancée, he did. But his powers were more based on reading the history of objects and his studies were focused on history not psychology. Thus his girlfriend was one up on him this time.

Hotaru knew full well why her friend Usa was here, she had confronted her friend from the future to confirm her suspicions. It was only a matter of time after all that she would return from the future. And now it was safe for her to stay a while since there was little she could do to tamper with the future.

Ultimately the most ignorant person in the room was Ranma, who for some reason was female. Claiming stealth or some such reason that Hotaru didn't follow. She focused he attention back to Usa as it seemed like she was going to finally say to the others why she was actually present.

Chibi-Usa looked around the room, "Well you see the reason I am here is connected to something unfinished back in the Silver Millennium."

Nobody noticed as the sole red head paled, a sinking feeling, a familiar sinking feeling appeared in her stomach. And she really hoped it was Usagi's cooking…Usagi Sr that is.

Chibi-Usa continued, "From what I was told somehow our family line got promised into an arranged marriage by my grandmother. So I have come back to meet and marry my husband." Despite saying the word meet it was clear she had in her time and was more interested in the Honeymoon then the marriage ceremony.

Mamoru who had yet to catch on as to where all this was going was doing a good job imitating his to be father in law. He was preparing to unman the roach who threatened his daughter's virtue. Ignoring the fact that his daughter was the same age as her mother and hadn't been born yet. Which also took out of the equation that she was sitting before him telling everybody present this. Also the fact that it was technically his mother in law from the moon kingdom's fault didn't also register.

By this time most had put the pieces together, but it was Rei who asked, "Who is your fiancé?"

As soon as Chibi-Usa started answering Ranma reacted by pulling a disappearing act, meaning he leapt to the ceiling and hoped nobody looked up. From there he listened and watched the chaos below.

"Ranma."

Mamoru moved to the location the pigtailed girl was last, but Usagi's leg lashed out in a seemingly innocent way as she reached for a cookie, "Oh! Mamo-chan I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."

There was general pandemonium as Mamoru fell, he landed on the low traditional table causing one leg to collapse and everything on it went flying. In the end only Setsuna, Hotaru, Chibi-Usa, all of who were sitting together in a corner plus Ranma, who was still on the ceiling, were left unscathed. Worst of all was in the attempts to dodge most of the guardian or inner senshi somehow became entangled into a ball. The only thing left that kept the martial artist up there was actually the grey cat that had chosen that moment to enter the room and sit on Chibi-Usa's lap.

From her perch on the ceiling Ranma held on as long as she could but between the cat, a new fiancée and the feminine name calling. It wasn't long before her grip failed and she fell into the now growing girl katamari. The fact that both Hotaru and Chibi-Usa came quickly to the rescue only to get absorbed as well only brought her present stress level higher. Seeing Chibi-Usa get entangled and wanting to help, the gray cat jumped onto the ball, but her timing was poor as she landed once again on Ranma's face.

* * *

A disheveled Ranma-chan, found herself once again restrained by the embarrassing ribbon. Then again after events over the last hour she decided not to press her luck. At the very least she didn't cause and serious injuries, at least that she knew about, Mamoru kept giving her an odd wary look. And it appeared that damage to the furniture seemed limited to a pair of broken chairs anyway. Although Minako, standing in her senshi form with her chain whip unnerved her. Still the real problem was only one thing right now, "Why am I still a girl?"

Artemis leaped on to the couch and watched as the girls lifted the red-head on to it, "Three reasons: One, Hotaru and Chibi-Usa didn't trust some of the others not to fondle you; Two, we are not taking the chance of going through that again; and Three, because we said so."

Usagi sighed and picked up Luna before the Black Moon Cat could make things worse, "Luna, Chibi-Usa and I are headed home, hopefully we can get things out there setup again without too much trouble."

Chibi-Usa wanted to protest but shook her head and relented, "Diana you should stay to ensure this works." She confirmed with Setsuna this wasn't a problem then left with her mother.

Blinking at sudden movement in front of him, Ranma found himself repeating what happened with Luna, this time result were a little different. Artemis shook his head, after finishing then spoke, "Unfortunately I was only able to repeat Luna's level of success. But as long as Ranma knows it's us, even if we make cat like sounds, he will still think they come from a rabbit. There is little else that can be done short of anything beyond a major rewrite of memories."

Ranma's mother was a little upset, but didn't show it, "What kind of memory rewrite would be required and why?"

The white cat looked directly at her to respond, "I would need to completely erase any memory involving the fear and every time he has ever encountered a cat including Luna, Diana, and myself up to present just to begin with. While that would leave him with spotty memories just to begin with. You need to remember that this would include every little detail and every instance he was ever reminded of cats. That way he doesn't accidently break the blocks put in place. This brings to the next point, Neither Luna nor myself can erase memories entirely, not even Sailor Moon can. At best we can repress, or seal them."

Even Ranma was confused, "It can't possibly be that bad."

Looking back at him he decided to elaborate, "To give a recent example, you would lose the 'Amaguriken' and 'Hiryu Shoten Ha,' have every memory of being chased through china by Shampoo, in fact have every connection to her gone from your memory. That includes that last big fight with the Musk Prince. Simply because you connect her to cats that much."

Artemis made a long exasperated sigh, "As much as I want to help on this I can see that you would be best off losing every memory from the point of the neko-ken onward but that would in essence kill you. So that's out, which leaves the original option of resistance training."

Setsuna suspected what the answer was, but realized now was the only time she could ask it with Luna gone, "Artemis you sound like you are better at this then Luna so why do you defer to her so much?"

Sighing Artemis shook his head, "You know I love Luna, always did, and I guess that won't change." He stole a glance towards his daughter before continuing, "But even in the Silver Millennium there were problems that people ignored, either by being bred to or simply not knowing any better. Society just chose to always side with the female back then. Look at Usagi and Mamoru, technically he should be his equal on all levels, but he was the only Sailor Senshi who was male and even then he was forbidden the title. Even now that we are here he too follows the old habit. Yes I know you more than most of us who remember know all this, but how I interact with Luna and how Mamou does with Usagi is influenced our memories, without them we wouldn't be us."

Looking at Ranma he continued, "That is why I am also against that level of erasure of your memories. For better or worse, it's who you are. Well that and I read an interesting Manga lately that Minako got," he grinned as Minako palmed her face, "It's called 'Nanaka 6/17' and it would aptly show the problems with an overt memory loss like with what we are looking at."

Minako who managed to keep quiet until this point sighed, "That is true since that is the entire point of that Manga, not to mention the fact it's obviously entirely fictional and based on a girl."

Ranma had to counter this point, "So what your are getting at is that situations such as potential memory loss," he shook his head at Artemis, "Magical Girls," this time the nod was at her, "and other things like curses to change gender, along with non human species with human intelligence; simply don't exist."

Minako raised her eyebrow.

Ranma decided to answer the unasked question, "I stopped reading Manga in general since its less interesting then my life."

Ranma's mother shook her head and spoke, "Reality is stranger than fiction after all."

* * *

The next day Ranma sighed, she was sitting in a room full of giggling girls, one of whom told a joke she didn't get. Glancing downward at her current outfit, a form fitting pair of purple pajamas then glancing around at the various other occupants of the room she found herself, believing she knew hell.

Glaring at Usagi, when nobody was looking, she then took stock of the situation and decided she was stuck. Her mother had abandoned her to the bastion of solitude that was the time gates on some pretence of it needing to be guarded at that moment from wild rabbits.

The fact that nobody else seemed to believe it, plus the fact nobody seemed to call her on it lead the single conclusion. However her search had proven the Camera was indeed missing. Haruka and Michiru were conveniently absent but did set the rule that Ranma must remain female for the duration.

Sighing in defeat she decided to succumb to the time honored tradition of a slumber party. Truly there was no alternative. Fortunately she believed there was nothing that could go wrong. As the night progressed she found herself not as annoyed as she previously thought. Now if she could only have noticed Minako spiking the punch she would have been able to face her fiancées in the morning.

Fate is not without a sense of humor though as Ami got grabby on the Self described warrior of love.


	3. Chapter 3

Ranma was written by Takahashi Rumiko and published as an anime by Kitty Films - Fuji TV and Viz Communications, Inc.

Sailor Moon was published as an anime by Toei Animation and Geneon Entertainment

They own their own characters and other such trademarks, only characters that I make are owned by me.

* * *

Chapter 3 - Ahh! To be a normal teenager… Why not?

* * *

Haruka had arrived home after a long race and Michiru was still out with her teacher. The blond shook her head at that thought, Michiru was good, and even though her teacher was better, it was more idol worship that kept her going for more lessons. It had been a month since Ranma moved in with them and that month was far from dull, it seemed that trouble followed him like his shadow.

She finished parking her car and walked into the house. She wondered what sort of trouble 'The Trio' got into while they were left here alone. She smirked in the memory of Setsuna telling Ranma he had to stay in girl form while they were alone. Haruka knew it was more to keep Michiru and Usagi more relaxed about leaving them alone with Ranma, but in all honestly it was unnecessary. Setsuna's job as the guidance councilor kept her working even during the school summer break, so the three teens were left unsupervised. Everyone knew Ranma was just too shy to do anything, but then again he did live under the same roof as herself and Michiru.

As Haruka entered the living room she heard a sound from the chair on the other side of the couch. After doing a double take, she tripped on her own two feet out of shock and landed on her face. While recovering she denied to herself about what she had seen on the chair. The fallen girl's next reaction was to get up and look over the couch again. After confirming what she had seen the first time she collapsed again, this time in brief hysterics. She was not prepared for that sight, and it showed. She quickly gathered herself up and called Setsuna at the school.

An hour later all the Senshi were gathered to figure out what happened. And as they were running around asking random questions that seemed to get to nowhere. This left Ranma time to reflect on his new situation. Or rather the new one he, or rather she at the moment, landed in a month ago.

It was a noticeable change from his life at the Tendo's with his father. The fact that his mother happened to live with other Sailor Senshi didn't surprise him any. He at least knew that two of them weren't interested in him; the third one was another story. The déjà vu that he got by living with Hotaru made him compare his life now and how he figured it would be when he first arrived at the Tendo's. Unfortunately his luck seemed to never change and both parents seemed to bring the same problems. At least with his mother, he believed, it wasn't her fault.

Hotaru tried to console Ranma, and she really tried her best, "Don't worry Ranma, they will find out what happened and fix it." Hotaru was sitting to Ranma's left with an arm around her.

Ranma really wanted to believe that, but it truly felt like he lost ten years of his training, she could only sit there hanging her head in depression. Hotaru for all she tried was not succeeding in cheering him up.

"She's right Ranma, it will be okay." Ranma knew it was worse than he thought; Chibi-Usa was trying to console him. She was on his right mirroring Hotaru.

Ranma's head snapped up when she saw a flash and heard a click. It didn't help that his mother was there smiling and holding a camera. Ranma proceeded to pout but instead of getting the sympathy she was aiming for all she heard was a few of the other Senshi going, "Awwww!"

All three of them, Ranma, Hotaru, and Chibi-Usa, were currently sitting in a chair, and were currently in seven year old bodies. Nobody knew how or why it happened, just that when Haruka came home she found the three of them sitting in the same position they were now, except all three were trying to cover themselves in clothes that were way too big.

Setsuna decided she had enough pictures and tried to cheer up her son, "I am sorry Ranma, but you will have to put up with it a little while longer. We still have yet to determine exactly what happened to cause..." She trailed off for a moment to gather the right words, "this. Honestly I never saw this happen before."

Most of the Senshi were a little worried, if she was lacking an answer, it usually meant trouble. All they could do for now was to try and figure out what happened. At least they could sneak pictures of the three sitting together like that.

Ranma glared at his nemesis, Usagi Tsukino senior. The last series of things to happen to him were connected to her in some way. First her future daughter came from the future, again, and explained that the engagement that included Hotaru, also included her. Then there was the incident involving the slumber party, then getting drafted into the girl's sports teams, specifically Usagi's. She still had yet to figure out how her mother was pulling that off and keeping non-Senshi in the dark about the curse. Given that Mamoru was once again nursing a broken arm it was enough to wonder if Usagi was a black cat in disguise.

After that thought his eyes briefly darted to Luna before realizing she wasn't a cat. It scared Ranma afterwards to wake up, with both girls curled up to him; she kept expecting Akane to storm in and mallet him. It was an ingrained habit that was breaking, slowly.

Ranma fumed, and the two girls on either side hugged him again, then he looked back to his mother and asked, "I know that I have to wait for a while, but why am I doing it as a girl?"

Chibi's mother answered, "Sorry Ranma, the only clothes we had on hand in your sizes were Chibi's."

Ranma pouted then had one last question, "Then why are we all in school uniforms?"

Chibi answered for her mother, "Because we look so cute in them."

Sailor Pluto, who was currently in uniform, shook her head, "Because it's all we had in that size."

* * *

It was late night two days later when Ami and Setsuna finally had an answer, just not a complete one. It was around nine pm that the Senshi meeting occurred, and only the seven year olds were absent, or rather present and sleeping. One problem with being in such young bodies was the need for more sleep; Setsuna had recommended they let them sleep as they will, rather than treat them like the seven year olds they were in body. After all they would only resent it and fight it, however, if left alone they would sleep enough anyway, which they were. Presently the three sleepers were in Rei's bedroom so that the meeting in the fire reading room would not wake them.

Ami yawned herself, as she snapped the Mercury computer closed. She stretched then looked at the others, "I know roughly what happened now, what caused the age reversion was a small mushroom that was known of in the Silver Millennium. It was hard to place due to some physical changes, and some property changes, but it is close enough to what it was back then that I could identify it."

Ami reached into her pack and removed a small box, and then opened it and showed it to the others. Upon seeing it Usagi gasped, it was the cap of a mushroom. She then explained after noticing the looks, "My mother bought a small package of those from the store almost a week ago, they were apparently a one time item. Before she could use them they disappeared."

Setsuna shook her head, "So now we know what happened to them. Well now we know what caused it, and what can do we do about it."

Ami looked at the mushroom, "Typically we would simply grow a new batch, and let the stems grow to the length in centimeters per year of how old we want them to be. Unfortunately, this one was dead too long, and either as a result, or in addition all its spores are gone. We will need to find a new batch to grow. I tried scanning with the Mercury Computer, but yielded no results. To be honest I expected that since there was a note in the system saying that they were hard to detect even at close range, and impossible at long range. We need to find some way to track down who found them first and have them tell us."

Setsuna claimed, "It actually should be easy enough for me to find using the time gates, following the past is generally easy. I don't see a problem in tracking them down and be done in a few minutes," she smirked before finishing, "relatively speaking of course."

After Usagi nodded in consent Setsuna teleported out. Minako and Makoto were just getting started their usual boy comparison discussion when Pluto returned cursing quietly. Noticing the looks she shrugged and explained, "Long story short, the mushrooms were sold to the store by a... rival... of Ranma's. He cannot be tracked in the gate. Like Ranma he is a blind spot, fortunately in Ranma's case I can simply 'follow' him in the gate indirectly, I cannot with Ryoga because he keeps disappearing. Almost like he is using some form teleportation, only he isn't... We will need to get the information out of him directly."

After a moment of blank looks she elaborated on the gate's tracking ability, "Ok, first of all using the gate this way is like looking out a window, but remember the earth is in constant motion. The gates were designed to be able to lock on to a point or an object when aiming and I can view the destination through it. It's not perfect, but it is sufficient. It also works on a principal of linking to its past or future self and then connecting to the destination. Unfortunately anything that occurs that is improbable is usually missed by the gate, and Ranma's father, is a living improbability as everything he does tends to be hard to predict. With that being the case I cannot simply 'lock on' to him. However I can aim the gate to a time that I know he is and adjust the gate to different points effectively following him. "

Still seeing blank looks perhaps blanker she decided to dumb it down as only Ami seemed to catch on, "Think of it this way, when you are looking at something in front of you, you only need to move your eyes, but in this case when you move your eyes to follow it disappears, however, when you move your head you can still see it." As they seemed to somewhat understand she continued, "This rival of Ranma's somehow causes a moment of static, like dropping a sheet over your head, you can remove it fast, but by then he is gone. And this only happens during a major surge of the improbable."

Nods ran around the table as they got the idea. Then Minako piped up, "Okay, where do we find him?" Setsuna glared at the blond until Minako flinched and asked, "What, it's a valid question?" She saw everyone glaring at her, she realized nobody had any idea where he could be found and squeaked out, "Never mind."

Setsuna sighed and decided to tell them a little about the pig, "Okay, I will give you enough information on him so you can be ready. First of all if you encounter him while transformed he will pass out, he is very shy around girls, and our uniforms will be enough, especially if we are together. Second, like Ranma he has a Jusenkyo curse. He was foolish enough to follow Ranma to china, and foolish enough to stand at the edge of a cliff, Ranma accidently knocked him into a spring while in the throes of transformation shock. Ryoga's curse turns him into a small black piglet. He carries around a large backpack and a heavy red umbrella."

Minako suddenly paled and she interjected with a question, "Does he have an orange with black spots bandana?"

Setsuna blinked and nodded, "How did you..."

Minako sighed and Artemis piped up, "We found him in piglet form yesterday, he was next to his backpack, and a pile of clothes, and they looked like someone was... well... teleported out of them. The piglet seemed to be trying to boil water. We had to leave him there because of that Youma attack at the mall, and when we got back the piglet, the backpack, and the clothes were gone."

Minako nodded and added, "We didn't say anything since it seemed too weird to tell anyone, besides there didn't look like a fight occurred there, and I could tell that the umbrella on the pack was weighted." At the looks she got she quickly added, "What? I have seen people weight all kinds of weird things while I was Sailor V. It's strange, but good training I bet. So I figured it was just a martial artist that was camping out and went for supplies or something. The clothes might have just been laid out for later use."

Artemis added, "So you see, it was weird, but not so much so that we thought there was a danger of some kind. I sensed no evil at all, just heavy depression."

Setsuna sighed, "That is the last point, Ryoga is depressed all the time, and he has an attack powered by depression. It would not hurt us much in Senshi form, but might hurt badly or hospitalize us if we aren't transformed. He is a berserker, so you should be careful, he will not watch for innocent bystanders, nor will he care about collateral damage. He has a foolish vendetta against Ranma, but it seems to have lapsed somewhat in the time before Ranma moved here. Be warned he will likely attack Ranma on sight, however, Ranma's age problem will probably keep Ryoga from recognizing him."

* * *

It was the following day and all the other Senshi were out looking for Ryoga. Yet the youngest and Ranma were left to their own devices. "Are you sure we should be doing this?" Hotaru asked for the third time.

Ranma and Chibi-Usa both nodded before Chibi replied, "It's not like anything will happen to us right, I mean we are really older then we look. Beside we have Ranma with us," she punctuated her point by glomping said boy turned girl's right arm. "What could go wrong?"

All three girls were still in school uniforms; Ranma's mother had apologized but explained that if she got Ranma proper clothes for his current height, then it would be like admitting that this change was going to be for a while.

Ranma sighed, she knew for a fact she was going to get in trouble for this, "You know saying that is just asking for trouble right?"

Usa shrugged cutely and replied, "Good, I'm bored anyway. Besides unlike all the others we can still call upon some of our powers even like this. And you are the big strong martial artist, you can protect us if something goes bad until we can transform."

Hotaru looked at Usa suspiciously, "You say that like you expect we will need to transform."

Chibi-Usa shrugged, "Let's face it, it's the three of us, do you think we can go any length of time without some random monster coming out of nowhere to attack us?"

Hotaru and Ranma both groaned. They realized she was probably right. Ranma had to ask, "Then explain why we are sneaking into an amusement park again? A normal park would be less trouble."

Chibi-Usa disengaged her glomp and dashed ahead of the two before stopping and turning around, with her hands on her hips, "Because, you didn't take us out on a date yet, and it's more romantic to go there."

Ranma's eye twitched her saying that ensured that something would happen; she could only hope that it was learning a new technique.

* * *

Across the city and an hour later the Tendo's were watching the news. It was reporting a live event where a demon of some sort was attacking an amusement park. As they watched they saw a small, red haired, elementary school girl throw Ranma's signature attack at the demon and it have no effect. She flipped away as the demon moved in for a counter attack. Then they watched as a shorter version of Saturn showed up to help fight the monster, sans her glaive.

Their attention was torn away from the television as Genma cried out, "Nooooo! I always knew that she would turn him into a weak little girl. But nobody would listen!"

Kasumi put a hand over her mouth momentarily before replying, "Oh my! We never knew you meant literally Panda-san."

Before Genma could ask why she called him that when he was human he was malleted into the pond by a glowing tomboy.

Soun himself ignored what was going on around him; it was his way to cope with the situation. He was pretending Ranma was away on a training trip and would return in a few weeks. The power of delusion he held was only beaten by the Kuno family.

As the family was distracted by their own problems they failed to notice the demon getting destroyed by Sailor Moon, followed by the young Senshi and Ranma being dragged off by their respective mothers. Fortunately nothing really left a connection between them that could hint the relationships, Mars just told the reporters that managed to ambush her they were personal friends of their respective parents and were taking the kids home.

* * *

Setsuna paced in front of the three age reduced individuals. She was mad, and scared, as much as she wanted to, she could not bring any ire at her son and his fiancées. She was mad with herself, she had not predicted this problem. Hotaru was current without her glaive, it was just too big for her to even attempt to use right now, actually it was too big before the mushrooms to use as a melee weapon, but she managed. Now it was impossibly too big to even use as a focus. Chibi-Usa was partially depowered too, but it was actually because she lacked a focus of her own. Her old wand, the Crystal Carillon, was back in the future, it had stopped working correctly for her shortly after her last return to the future, so she was in need of a new focus.

Ranma, her son Ranma, was not a Sailor Senshi, nor was he another Kamen. This was a real scare for her, her son could have been killed today; all three could have been killed today. If Mercury had not detected the demon and alerted everyone then they probably would have lost one, if not all three. She had to do something, but she was at a loss as to what. Technically they were in the right for what they did, even if it was heroically dumb. Her eyes hardened as she came to a decision. Setsuna turned to the three, cowering children and spoke, "You three are grounded from fighting."

She ignored the protests that came, "But mom!" "Setsuna-mama!" "Puu!"

She responded with a glare, a warm glare, but still a glare, "The three of you did both the right thing here and the wrong thing. Yes, fighting to save people is the right thing, but none of you are in any condition to fight. All you did was slow it down, and that there is the problem. If you were your normal ages you would have won, easily, but you're not. For now, you two are benched," her eyes softened further and she smirked, "and you need to make sure my son doesn't do something stupid trying to prove himself."

Ranma protested but it was drowned out by giggling from either side of him.

Setsuna turned and walked to the other side of the room where Luna and Artemis were laying down, and spoke in a way that allowed no argument, "We are going to find a way to fix this little power problem, understand!" She disappeared with the two after the cats nodded dumbly.

Everyone blinked when she disappeared, then Usagi, who decided to break up the mood, grabbed the nearest of Rei's manga and drew attention to herself, "Ohh! I haven't read this one yet."

Rei reached for it and unleashed her battle cry, "Give it back Meatball Head." As she neared it Usagi moved in such a way she could continue reading it and keep it out of Rei's reach. Their antics distracted everyone from the current troubles, everyone but three benched, younger than usual, warriors.

* * *

In the end the solution for the Chibi Sailor Senshi was an easy enough fix, for the short term anyway. Pluto spun what looked like a plastic wand with a bright pink heart at the end. Unlike previous wands she had seen recently this one wasn't hollow, nor did it have a place for some magic rock that would enhance powers beyond what the wand naturally could.

On the other hand it had one thing that the other senshi lacked. An illusion field. Normally this would be used to hide the identity of the student from prying eyes. However in this situation it could be tweaked so anyone who looks still sees a mid to late teen instead of a pre teen.

Rubbing her head she tried to come up with something but she was frankly at a loss, and Luna was driving her crazy with her insane theory.

Said Moon Cat was persistent on the point, "Something will develop, I am sure of it. We just need time."

The Time mistress growled, "We may not have that, right now anything the gate shows is very unreliable at best. It gave me a headache and took a week just to track down where that batch of mushrooms came from, I do not want to miss something critical in the here and now."

Sighing the White Cat interjected, "I am going with Luna on this, Sailor Moon created Tuxedo Kamen not unlike how Luna created Sailor Moon."

Luna almost batted him for that but restrained herself.

Not knowing how close to a mauling he got he continued, "We might be able to trigger some kind of similar situation with either of the girls and Ranma, or perhaps better, both."

Shaking her head Setsuna exhaled, "While it is true Tuxedo Kamen's powers are not drawn directly from the earth under typical circumstances his other powers are part of it. They still draw from his star seed, which then replenishes from the Earth. Ranma is strong, even now, but his powers are that of the Frontline Defender. Thus he is better at countering and most of his skills are such."

Artemis nodded, "Where as Chibi-Usa is an assault specialist and Hotaru is cover and healing."

Luna frowned, "Mamoru also has low level Psychometry and Telepathy with Usagi.

Slowly a smile came to Setsuna's face, "I think a plan is forming, but Psychometry is a tricky thing. It can drive a person insane easily. If we are going to give him something we should choose something in his nature. And something he can use to fight with."

"Probability." Both looked at the white cat, "You did say he was naturally chaotic and we all saw enough of it. Further it might make things quieter around here."

Thinking for a moment before nodding the green haired woman was not totally convinced, granting a power was generally hard to do to begin with, with the exception of Telepathy oddly, "I will look into it, for now the two of you should bestow these wands to the girls and form the telepathic bond. Let's not go too far too fast."

Setsuna transformed into her Sailor form but was stopped by Luna before returning the cats to the house, "What about his curse? Can't it be cured?"

Pluto bent low so the cats could perch on her shoulders, "While it is possible, as time progresses the chances lessen as it becomes part of his self image. He will likely reach a point where it just doesn't matter. I have been aware of Jusenkyo for some time and can say its effects are inconsistent from one person to the next beyond the basics."

Lowering her head Luna summed it up, "It might cure him, it might not, and things may be better or worse."

Looking at the cats on her shoulders she made a decision, "Artemis, I am going to send Minako and Makoto clothes shopping and I ask you keep them in line. At this point we have to face reality it will be some time before any of them return to their proper age."

Artemis nodded, "Let me guess clothes for both forms, school uniforms as such, and a selection of unisex as possible. Plus something for the girls too that fills approximate rolls." Briefly he grinned at the trouble he could cause at miss communicating the orders.

Luna caught it, "No trouble or I will make sure you regret it."

Openly baiting her he countered her, "Try it sour puss."

Pluto cleared her throat then smiled, "If you two are done we should go."

With an answering pair of nods the three disappeared back to the house.

* * *

It had come as a surprise to all that Ranma was hard to win over for the shopping trip. He would get male clothes, and lots of them so Makoto and Minako, who were told first, thought it would be a simple matter of going. But Ranma was no idiot, he knew what they meant. His mother had come to the conclusion that he would be stuck this young for some time. However, Artemis was most surprised that the older girls, physically anyway, were not the ones causing Ranma to fight back right now.

Artemis could hear Ranma, in girl form; call back to Chibi-Usa who was michivous as ever, "No way, absolutely not. It isn't going to happen."

The Minako walked forwad towards the cornered redhead and Artemis was glad that he was with Makoto and out of this line of fire. He watched with care as the other three girls maneuvered Ranma into a changing room along with Chibi-Usa and Hotaru.

When the three emerged they were all wearing similar styled clothes; a blouse and miniskirt combination, with thigh high white socks with colored ring at the top which matched a headband. The redhead was not looking impressed, but decided to relent, "Alright, but no more dresses or skirts."

Artemis took pity and spoke to Makoto when he was sure nobody was looking, "Pluto did say unisex, and this isn't"

Makoto nodded and confirmed that nobody noticed, they had what they needed anyway, this was their last stop. Raising her voice she caught Minako's attention, "Time to pay for them and go."

Ranma quickly changed into a sized down version of her old tangs that she had gotten previously and the entire group was out the door immediately after paying.

Minako felt bad about forcing that on Ranma, so she rubbed some brain cells together and came up with an idea to help, "How about I treat you three to Ice Cream, my treat."

Sadly she misjudged the amount that trio would be able to put away after a full day of shopping. Her wallet wouldn't have survived had not Artemis reminded her she still had access to Pluto's bank account.

The entire day was nearly ruined By an explosion followed by a battle cry of "Prepare to Die!"


End file.
